Wednesday, December 26, 2007

NPR says Drug Czar's claims full of holes Holes Found in U.S. Claims of a Drug-War Win For the past few months, the federal government has been celebrating the fact that U.S. cities are experiencing "an unprecedented cocaine shortage" due to increased law enforcement in the southwestern United States and Mexico. But fact-checking by NPR reveals that while there are indeed spot shortages of cocaine, they are neither nationwide nor unprecedented. And the scarcity may have unintended consequences. Walters is learning that the days where he could just claim whatever he wanted and everyone would nod in agreement are gone. People are checking... Four cities declined to respond to questions about the local cocaine supply; five said there was simply no shortage. The question brought laughter from Sgt. Roger Johnson of the Detroit Police Department. "No, we don't have a problem finding it at all," Johnson said. The article goes even further into the historical trends showing that Walters' boasts are meaningless. A good piece -- kudos to John Burnett for looking into this story. 11:58:27 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []